


if the silence takes you then i hope it takes me too

by baliset



Category: Blaseball (Video Game)
Genre: Early Season Crabs, Incineration Heavy, Other, crabitat has been hitting on some stuff re combs being the team captain that i like a lot, what if we kissed in the trench..................and we were both crabs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-26
Updated: 2020-11-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:21:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27728035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baliset/pseuds/baliset
Summary: Nora is one of the first to go, and Combs knows it’s their fault.(or: combs duende finds their window.)
Relationships: Nora Perez/Combs Duende
Comments: 2
Kudos: 25





	if the silence takes you then i hope it takes me too

Nora is one of the first to go, and Combs knows it’s their fault.

They’re the team captain, after all. They should have seen what was about to happen, should have been there in time to stop it, should have done _something_. Loser tells them they couldn’t have known, that there was no time, but Combs knows that’s not true. Nora was their responsibility, and they failed her. They got it wrong.

They study tapes for the next two seasons, watch the replays of every incineration anyone’s ever shot on their phone camera and posted to the internet. Combs rewinds the footage over and over again, strains their eyes against the harsh blue light of their laptop screen, looking for that liminal moment between the rogue umpire’s eyes turning white and the player bursting into flame. They count the seconds it takes to happen. Is it enough time? It’s hard to say for certain when you’re watching it from a distance, as far removed as the fans or the gods. But Combs thinks there might be. They rewind the footage again, count under their breath, watch the window to save each player shrink while their teammates stand frozen on the diamond.

Something changes in Season 4. Less incinerations. Maybe the umpires are saving their strength (for what?), or maybe they’re tired, or bored. Combs doesn’t let themself get cocky about it, and they don’t go easy on the Crabs, either. The team is getting better - not good enough to make a championship run yet, but better.

So when a rogue umpire looks at Loser in the middle of a game and their eyes go white, the choice is easy.

Combs is fast, maybe not as fast as Forrest, but they’re moving as soon as they see the glow behind the ump’s mask. The ball hasn’t even left Monty’s glove yet on the mound, but Combs is sprinting from the outfield to third anyway, no air in their lungs. They can’t shout to warn Kennedy - they just shove him, and hope. They’re still hoping when they feel a buzzing in their bones like a lightning strike, and their hair stands on end, and then, and then, and then.

They wake up in the dark.

Combs blinks, then blinks again, the shadows around them tangibly thick in a way that makes them wonder if the searing light that filled their vision at the last second made them blind. But then there’s a lantern bobbing in the distance, getting closer, and they realize this place is just pitch black in an eerie way, a way that doesn’t show surfaces or angles. They sit up and watch the lantern until it’s close enough that they can see the person holding it, a cloaked woman who tosses her hood back and smiles so brightly that the shadows don’t quite conceal it.

“Hi,” Nora says, and holds out her hand to Combs.

“Hi,” Combs says back, taking her hand, feeling like they’ve finally done something right.

**Author's Note:**

> i like nora and i like combs and i think they are an interesting pair.
> 
> title is from soul meets body by death cab for cutie!
> 
> you can find me on twitter @corpserevivers, and elsewhere in the crabitat discord!


End file.
